Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly used his victims to recruit other minors to sexually abuse and kept a trove of nude photographs of girls even after being convicted in 2008 on prostitution charges.
These are some of the revelations from the indictment and bail memorandum detailing new charges of sex trafficking of minors against Epstein.
The billionaire financier was formally charged with child sex trafficking on Monday, more than 10 years after he pleaded guilty to federal prostitution charges and registered as a sex offender in Florida.
In a 14-page grand jury indictment, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York accused Epstein of paying dozens of young girls engage in sex acts with him between 2002 and 2005. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in a 10-page bail memo that he considered Epstein a flight risk and recommended the billionaire be jailed until his next court hearing.
Here are some of the major points from the indictment and bail memo.
According To The Indictment:
1. Epstein’s victims were largely minors, as young as 14 years old. Epstein knew many of them were underage, partly because some told him how old they were.
2. He coerced and paid victims hundreds of dollars to recruit other victims, thus maintaining a steady stream of new girls to abuse.
3. Epstein had a network of employees and associates who helped him find minors and arrange sexual encounters with them. The indictment says an unnamed New York associate of Epstein’s, identified only as “Employee-1,” and two unnamed Palm Beach associates, identified as “Employee-2” and “Employee-3,” helped Epstein arrange encounters with the minors.
4. The victims were initially told to give Epstein a massage, which often included sex acts. Epstein or one of his associates paid them hundreds of dollars in cash after each sexual encounter.
8. Epstein had networks of minor girls to abuse in both New York City and Palm Beach, Florida, and would travel by private jet between the two for sexual encounters.
9. As part of the indictment, Epstein forfeits to the government any properties he used to conduct the sex trafficking.
According To The Bail Memo:
1. Prosecutors consider Epstein to be a very high flight risk, given his enormous wealth, private planes and international ties.
2. Epstein owns six residences, including a private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands that was listed as his primary residence. He also has 15 motor vehicles and access to two private planes.
3. Authorities who searched Epstein’s residences found a huge amount of corroborating evidence, including contact information for victims, notes, phone records and more.
4. Among the evidence authorities uncovered was an enormous trove of explicit photographs of young women and girls, which he maintained even after his initial conviction in 2008.
5. Epstein engaged in “witness tampering, harassment [and] other obstructive behaviors,” according to Berman. The billionaire allegedly went to extreme degrees to obstruct the investigation, including by having his private investigator run someone off the road.